2

"Rest, Twilight." Fluttershy stood next to me, wrapping a bandage around my head. "You've been through too much."

I lay back in my bed and closed my eyes. How did I manage to faint twice in a day? All I've been was was weak and vulnerable ever since I've been inside the Mansion. By now, I'd accepted that I have to become stronger if I don't want to be the first one dead. I rested my hooves on my chest, feeling the now calm beat of my heart. At least I have the kindness of these strangers to help me through these rough times.

I leapt out of bed when I remembered what I'd seen before passing out.

Pinkie. Where is Pinkie? She had blood on her hooves! Did Fluttershy know about this? What was that scream? We're all in grave danger. I lifted myself up out of the bed, but was forced back down by the pair of Fluttershy's soft forelegs.

"Twilight, please rest," she tucked in the covers tightly, "you've been fainting too often."

I ignored the pain of her pressing against my sore chest and tried to brush her aside. "But, Fluttershy! We're in danger! P-Pinkie Pie had blood on her hooves; she's the killer!"

"Twilight, you've been through a lot." She leaned to the side so that I could see Pinkie in the corner gorging herself on doughnuts. Jelly doughnuts. "Please don't make me worry about you too, we've already been through a terrible ordeal."

I stared at Pinkie in disbelief. The blood was in fact nothing more than strawberry jelly. Although Pinkie was innocent, I still believed deep in my heart that she was the killer. I remember her eyes when she screamed for cupcakes. It was unlike anything I've heard before - it was unequestrian. "But, but, those bodies. The bathroom. The blood. Pinkie. Her blood. She-"

Fluttershy pressed her hooves against me firmly and stared down at me menacingly. "You're not going to get out of this bed. Understand?" Her stare made my throat seize as I succumbed to her will. I became lightheaded and remained on the bed paralyzed by her sternness.

Did she think I was the killer? I raised my hoof to her, and she turned away. No, it couldn't be. This Mansion must be getting to her, like Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy paced around the room nervously, no longer bothering to attend to my head. Something was very wrong. I heard her whispering strange things to herself, then stop and look back at me. She repeated this cycle, until I realized that somepony was missing.

"Where's Rarity?"

She glared at me once again with Death's stare. "Oh, wouldn't you know?"
"What do you mean?"

She took a lantern in her mouth and brought it to the far end of the room. There, the light illuminated a white bedsheet stained crimson red, covering a pony-sized lump on the floor.

"There's Rarity."

"What? No!" Rarity, dead? How could this have happened? "You're lying. S-She can't be... No!"

Fluttershy leaped at me and slammed her body onto me. She dug her hooves in between my ribs to the point of breaking. "We can do this the easy way." She twisted her hoof. "Or the hard way."

The pain was unbearable. The side of my ribs were already on the verge of cracking, but she continued on to press even harder. My body became rigid with the white-hot pain that left me screaming for mercy.

"I know ways to make you scream even louder, Twilight. Just admit it. You killed Rarity, didn't you?"

"No! I didn't!" Tears began to fall out of my eyes.

She responded by thrusting her hoof across the side of my face and striking my cheek. "I've been watching Pinkie ever since we left this room because I knew she was dangerous. But she didn't kill anypony. And the others, Applejack was watching Rainbow Dash. That leaves you, Twilight Sparkle, with blood on your hooves."

She raised my foreleg in front of my face so that I could see my bloodstained hooves. She dropped my legs and then pinned my neck against the pillow with her hindleg. Choking and gasping for air, I could see her lifting the other hoof ready to strike me again, but something pink caught it in midair.

"Stop it now!" Pinkie growled at her.

Fluttershy screamed back at her, becoming ferocious as a raging bull. "She bucking killed Rarity. Rainbow Dash was right, she's the sick pony that brought us here." She gnashed her teeth at me and smiled demonically as I lost the will to struggle against her any longer.

I gave up. My body became limp and I invited death over the pain of suffocation. But the pain didn't disappear. No, It only grew stronger, but it was then that I realized that she was no longer pressed against my throat. The pain was barely endurable, but was thankful that I was still alive.

Pinkie Pie ushered her out of the room. "Get out and get some air." She slammed the door shut, and we could hear Fluttershy's hoofsteps and heavy sobbings leading away from us.

"Deep breaths, Twilight." She lightly placed her hooves on my chest until I breathed normally. "Do you feel alright."

I managed to answer her. "I think I am." Then, I winced in pain from the broken ribs.

The warmth from her body spread across my body through her hooves on my chest. I could feel the rise and fall of her body with each of her soft breaths. I was now safe once again. We sat staring at each other, until the she broke the awkward silence.

"Do you want to know why I think we're here, Twilight?"

I was too weak from the assault to nod my head

"Everypony here has a problem, and I think that's why we were gathered here."

She saw by my confused face that I didn't comprehend. "You see, everypony here is a little loco in the coco. For example, Fluttershy there is teeny bit little bipolar. She really didn't mean to hurt you like that, Twilight. Well, half of her at least."

I was trying to make sense of all of this. Fluttershy was half evil? Well, she did just try to kill me. I guess that makes two attempted murders on me now.

I cleared my throat, but barely managed to speak in a hoarse whisper "what about everypony else?"

"Well from what Applejack has told me, she's not allowed in any bar in Equestria anymore because she gets a little too riled up with those stallions, if you know what I mean. And Rainbow Dash, as you may know by now, can't control her anger very well."

"And I can't handle pressure well?"

"A little. But that's not very problematic compared to everypony else's, Twilight! At least you don't hurt other ponies." Her mane deflated ever so softly as she cleared a tear away from her eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"Yea, I am." She was still wiping away tears. "It's just that my parents..."

I knew that she was uncomfortable, and maybe I pried a bit too far into her personal life.

"Anyways, I do, well, sugar occasionally," Her ear twitched twice, "maybe a teeny bit more than occasionally. But I have it all under control, so I am not technically an addict. And finally, Rarity is downright a sociopath."

"Wait, what?"

"Eeyup. She was planning to murder us all in our sleep once she earned our trust."

"Pinkie."

"Yes?"

"How do you know this?"

"She told me."

Now, this was just too incredible. Rarity, the presumed killer, just told Pinkie that she was going to kill us all in her sleep. I shook my head. "Pinkie."

"Yes?"

"Do you know how crazy that sounds?"

"Just trust me, Twilight. My Pinkie senses told me. See?" Her tail twitched rapidly. Off in the distance, Applejack's swears echoed throughout the hallway.

Pinkie senses. I didn't bother to pursue this conversation any longer. Science and logic were the only things I understood, which was exactly why I studied magic. Her senses were probably just coincidental events.

Pinkie Pie held out a scrap of paper "If you don't believe me, then look at what I found in her saddlepack."
What I read was mind-boggling. Rarity had written some twisted grimdark scenes involving our deaths. Why in Equestria would somepony write such bloody things about us?

So we all had problems. Alright. But, what did our ponynapper hope to achieve by bringing us to the Mansion? "So, what does this all mean?"

"Well, I don't think that we were chosen at random. There must be something in common that the pony must want us to figure out together. Maybe it's something that we're supposed to learn from each other. But without her, I don't know if we will ever know why we're here."

"Pinkie," I glanced at where Rarity lay, "where exactly did she die?"

"Down the hallway to the right, and the tenth door to the left. It's a nasty sight in there." Her mouth turned downwards in disgust.

"I'm going there." I attempted to move out from the covers, but I could feel the fatigue of the past two days return.

Pinkie Pie refused to let me leave. Instead of forcing me down, she placed a book on my lap. "Magical Spells and Magical Cures: a Guide to Medical Magic, I found it in the library. Fluttershy warned me not to show you this, but I can't stand by and watch you suffer like this."

"I don't think I have enough magic for spells anytime soon, Pinkie. Thanks, through." I owed her my life for saving me; in fact, I owed a lot of ponies my life.

"Pinkie," I asked cautiously, "why do you trust me?"

I saw her blush immediately. She distracted herself by playing with her mane. "I-I don't know exactly. D-Do I need a reason?"

I stared at her intently, trying to look for any signs of the truth she was hiding.

But her face only became a deeper shade of pink. I blinked and didn't see her lunge at me. I felt her soft lips press against mine. I didn't have time to understand what she was doing, or if what was happening is in my imagination. Our snouts rubbed close enough against each other close enough so that I could smell her scent of sweet cotton candy. I opened my eyes widely and she retreated.

"Pinkie!" I said, confused and bright red. I was astonished by her openness.

"I'm sorry Twilight, but I just know that you were somepony special to me before we lost our memories." She began to cry out loudly. "It's just when I try to remember anything about my past now, you always come to mind."

She was like a child, and I adored her. I wrapped myself around her and held her to my heart. "It's alright, Pinkie. Thanks." I held her until she ceased sobbing. Although I could not return my feelings to her I nuzzled her ear, and made her giggle. "I guess there are things that just can't be explained. You just have to believe in it."

Once she was satisfied, I stood on all fours and grabbed a lantern off the table. I placed Pinkie down gently on the covers so that she would not awake. I took a moment to watch how beautiful she was when sleeping, but I quickly turned away and chased those thoughts away. "No, Twilight, you don't swing that way!"

I let the door close silently behind me. It was time investigate the scene of Rarity's death.

The door hung from its hinges and creaked ominously. This was the room Pinkie said Rarity had 'perished' in. I peered inside and immediately saw horrible tools of torture spread on the floor. Notably, tens of bear-traps with rusted teeth littered the floor. One, however, was triggered near a deeply blood stained bed. Even the wooden boards underneath it were drenched in her blood, radiating from the trap like splashes of ink. The markings of the blood resembled that of animals caught in traps which die slowly from a desperate struggle. This is also how Rarity must have died. Other than the traps, strange wires hung from the ceiling like nooses and splintered medical instruments lay scattered on the floor. Was this a hospital room?

It was obvious that her death was by no means an accident. Scratches on the ground leading from the door to the spot suggested that she was forcefully brought to the impending trap. It was then that she was tossed into the trap; this only added onto my fears.

Rarity. She didn't deserve to die like this; nopony did.

Crack. The lantern's glass case exploded, scattering sharp shrapnel over the room. A sudden draft extinguished the small flame, enveloping the room in pure darkness. My heart began to race again as I heard the beating of hoofsteps banging around the floorboards around me. I broke out in a cold sweat as I tried to light up my horn, but the last spell had drained my last drops of magic. I was on the verge of losing consciousness in fear, but I forced myself to concentrate on creating light.

Then I heard the clamor of the clashing metal traps around me. They snapped around me like alligators ready to feast on another meal. I screamed for help, but nopony came and the hoofsteps only grew louder. Then, I heard the rustling of the wires above me twisting against each other like vipers. Something cold and barbed wrapped around my throat, but when I grabbed my neck nothing was there. I screamed even louder, but the noises in the room became howling. The screech of a bear-trap slowly opening its jaw sounded directly above me. At any moment, I expected the teeth to snap shut and decapitate me in a swift bloody flourish.

Purple sparks shot out of my horn at the last moment and I caught glimpses of the horrors around me. I saw little colts and fillies dancing circles around me and laughing. Gradually, their high squeals became deep and demented as they came to a stop. The room flashed every second and I could see them marching towards me with their necks twisted in unnatural positions. Their eyes then became bloodshot as they stared at me and they began to cry black blood. Somepony, anypony, help me!

I curled myself into a ball and closed my eyes. No, not this again. I promised myself that I would be stronger this time and not faint. Although I tried to drown out the noise, the foals would laugh louder. I would hear them step close enough to touch me with their cold ghostly hooves. I felt myself drowning, unable to swim in a sea of fear.

"This is not real! This is not real!" I screamed. I could only half-believe myself in those words because everything felt too real to be fake. I began to feel nauseous as I choked up gallons of blood onto the floor. I crawled away dragging myself with my bloodied hooves to where I thought was the door. Instead, I found myself in front of a wall. I hacked up another storm of blood onto the wall and I fell to the ground once again.

I have never been so afraid in my life. I tried create light once again, and this time a small purple flame spewed from my horn. The room was lit dimly in violet, but everything disappeared. There were no more traps, no more strange creatures, and no more blood. Even more strange, I was no longer in my body but watching myself in third-person while floating in a dark void. Then, I felt my body entering into free-fall as lost sense of all reality.

Off in the distance was a weak pink light. As it galloped towards me, I saw that it was none other than the pink pony.

From the eyes of another pony...

Twilight? I could have sworn that I heard Twilight. My right hind hoof tapped irregularly on the floor: a sign that somepony I loved was in distress. I immediately ran out, taking the last lantern and calling out her name. "Twilight? Where are you, Twilight?"

I ran down the hallway and my ears began to twitch. I approached the tenth door on the left, the room where Rarity had died. I knew that Twilight couldn't have wandered very far. Then, I stopped. In the light of my lantern I saw the silhouette of a pony guarding the entrance to the room. The pony held a knife in her mouth, rusted and drenched in blood. The pony wreaked of death and sorrow. As the pony approached me, I clearly recognized her.

I was horrified to believe that it was her. "You. It was you?"

She didn't answer.

I turned and prepared to sprint away, but a burning pain emanated from my hindleg. I fell over on the carpet and turned back to see that my leg was pinned to the ground by the knife that ran into it. Then the pony pulled the blade out and stabbed again at my other leg.

I screamed for Twilight. I screamed for anypony to help. But my pleas for help were drained out by the expansive emptiness of the Mansion.

I couldn't feel or move my legs anymore. By now, I just wanted the ordeal to end. My body was flipped over and I lay spread eagle on the carpet, helpless but unwilling to die. The pony thrust the knife across my forearm as it shred through muscle and bone. For every consecutive slash the pain gradually became more bearable. In fact, I began to not feel anything at all. I saw the pony stab and snap organs out of the cavity in my chest, but I no longer knew what pain was. My head tilted to the side and the world became black.

The door flew open and I broke free from the mysterious trance. How long I was trapped I didn't know. Without the sun, everything seemed timeless. In the doorway was the orange pony, Applejack, with a lantern in her mouth. I was so glad to see the warm glow of the golden light again.

"Come on out now, and show me yer' hooves."

I obeyed without question, still in bewilderment from the vision of the pink pony. She was my only friend here, and maybe it was because of her that I was strong enough to endure the horrors once more. I knew without a doubt that it was the magic of friendship that allowed me to see her. Thank you Pinkie Pie.

I was in the same room, everything unchanged from when I entered. Those visions were just in my head, and I was glad that the nightmares were over. I approached the door, but Applejack didn't step aside. On her face was a look of pure disgust.

"Applejack! Thank goodness you're here. Pinkie! Where is she? We can't leave her alon-" I stopped to see that behind her was a blood soaked sack.

"You really don't know, do you?"

"What?" A split second later, I realised what she carried in the sack; in the midst of the overwhelming stench of death, I could faintly smell sweet cotton candy.